A #MeToo in politics?

Had MJ Akbar committed the sins as a politician, he might have got away

By: Radhika Ramaseshan

Every once in a while comes a moment in the life of a nation that challenges the honour and integrity of the ruling political establishment. It can emanate from rank abuse of the letter and spirit of the Constitution or law by an individual holding a statutory office, from abusing one’s position for self-aggrandisement by corrupt means and more deadly, by using power and privilege to sexually exploit the vulnerable. The Congress as the head of the UPA government experienced that forgettable moment when its minister without portfolio K Natwar Singh refused to quit after his name figured among the beneficiaries of the Saddam Hussein regime’s oil largesse. Singh left only when Sonia Gandhi would not take no for an answer because her family was dragged into Singh’s shenanigans. By then, the UPA dispensation had suffered a major bruise.

Former Minister for State for External Affairs, MJ Akbar's counsel told a Delhi court that Journalist Priya Ramani has caused a dent into the image of the former minister, which he had built over 40 years.

Last week, the Narendra Modi dispensation had an ignominious moment when MJ Akbar clung to his ministry as account after horrific account tumbled out of his sexual perversity as a former newspaper editor. Oh, we didn’t know, maintained one minister, although the BJP always nosed around for gossip on media celebrities. Another was more honest and said we never imagined the truth would get out. We will never know what transpired in the 10 days or so between Akbar’s arraignment and his resignation but the BJP/government’s conduct was as ignoble as its former minister’s. The selective leaks from within the BJP and the government claimed it was Akbar’s bellicose statement (whose rough edges were supposedly softened under pressure, so one can imagine what the first draft must have been like) and his move to file a libel suit against Priya Ramani that got to Prime Minister Modi and sealed his fate. If this version if credible, it meant Modi was unmoved by the travails of the sufferers because Akbar went out on a point of propriety that demanded that he demits office while fighting a legal case. What does this say about the RSS’s self-arrogated role as the BJP’s moral anchor?Wasn't an early tweet from its joint general secretary, Dattatreya Hosabale, tangentially endorsing the #MeToo campaign, a prod to the government and the BJP to rap Akbar? Did the tweet leave Modi cold?

There’s no dearth of spins put on l’affaire Akbar. An incredible one has it that two women ministers eventually tipped the scales against him because they squarely told Modi enough was enough. Who are the Furies, pray? Akbar’s boss, Sushma Swaraj, for long resigned to playing agony aunt to beleaguered expats, refused to break her silence.

A day before Akbar was shown the door, Nirmala Sitharaman’s whataboutery was on display. She empathised with the women and lauded their courage but upheld the minister’s right to approach the judiciary for remedy. Smriti Irani similarly took up cudgels for the victims but stopped short of castigating Akbar, while Maneka Gandhi proposed palliatives for sexual harassment at workplaces that weren’t taken seriously. Not a word from the feisty BJP women such as Meenakshi Lekhi and Kirron Kher, whose penchant for yelling their guts out became their distinguishing traits when the party was in Opposition. Even Uma Bharti, a target of sustained calumny when she got close to a BJP ideologue and was nearly wrecked in the 1990s, stayed mum.

What can the Congress say after one of its most intelligent, erudite and articulate MPs was unmasked by a journalist whom he preyed upon day after day as a minister? Akbar’s resignation was extolled as “vindication” of the Congress’s “unequivocal stand on the #MeToo movement” but the claim smacked of hypocrisy and seemed like an afterthought.

In the culture of patriarchy and misogyny that legitimises servitude and suffering and ensures that women survive on male patronage in politics, silence is easily bought. Listen to the stories from female aspirants for tickets to fight even a panchayat election and you get the drift.

Who is sounding hysterical these days — men or women — you tell me! The once powerful editor who has a battery of 97 lawyers

That’s why a #MeToo in politics is near impossible. If there comes an inflection point and women start speaking, be sure that only a handful of males will survive Erinyes’ revenge and retribution. Women have always got a raw deal in politics unless she is a beti(Indira Gandhi, Supriya Sule, Mehbooba Mufti, Misa Yadav ), a bahu (Sonia Gandhi, Sheila Dikshit, Margaret Alva) or a patni (Harsimrat Kaur, Dimple Yadav, Rabri Devi, Sucheta Kripalani). Legacy confers a shield against patriarchy’s assumed entitlements.

Mayawati might have earned a place for herself as a powerful self-made leader but even she was discovered, nurtured and positioned by Kanshi Ram. Jayalalithaa was mentored by MG Ramachandran. Mamata Banerjee holds the honour of making it to where she is without a patron.

Rajiv Gandhi found her talented alright but the arduous task of fighting the Left and her internal enemies in West Bengal was a solo endeavour.

Akbar imagined that political power would insulate him as the #MeToo campaign gained energy and momentum. He forgot that the protective sheath crumbled because he had to account for his omissions and commissions against a fortifying wall of hurt and enraged women from outside the political arena. Had he committed those very sins as a politician, chances are he might have got away. For women, politics is malevolent. If only they spoke out.

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